


seven minutes

by brewstr



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alien Hunting, Alternate Universe - Aliens, M/M, Paranormal, ben's a skeptic, caleb's a believer, the boys go alien hunting, wip? who is she
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 00:46:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15158750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brewstr/pseuds/brewstr
Summary: Caleb takes Ben for a little stargazing with some possible aliens on the side.





	seven minutes

**Author's Note:**

> i would love to turn this into something longer, but I'm making no promises. I hope you enjoy what's here for now :)

The cracked earth crawled with dehydrated plants and tufts of course grasses, all illuminated in the stark white of the car’s headlights. Ben and Caleb climbed up on the warm hood of the car and passed the bottle of cider between them as they talked. A faint chorus of crickets and the soft ticking of the settling car were the only noises to be heard in their silences. Caleb didn’t take his eyes from the sky. Ben pretended to believe Caleb didn’t notice how he watched him.

“What are you expecting to see up there, exactly?” He asked presently, half annoyed at Caleb’s preoccupation.

“Dunno. It’s a little different every time.”

“ _Ah._ ”

A smile was in Caleb’s eyes when Ben looked this time. Nothing ever got really _got_ to him, Ben mused irritably. It was really fucking aggravating. Ben was just about to deliver a cutting reply when Caleb’s hand flung out and hit his stomach. Ben turned to look at him indignantly and saw him pointing up. “There.”

Caleb hopped off the hood of the car and instructed Ben where to look. Ben put the bottle of cider down and followed him to where he stood to peer up at the starry sky. A small white speck hung where Caleb pointed, looking just vaguely out of place. It didn’t quite look like a star, but it certainly could have been one.

“Wow, let me get my notebook out, this is definitely something I need to record,” Ben said sarcastically, making no move to reach for his bag. He looked over at Caleb, expecting to see rolling eyes and annoyance. But Caleb was watching the sky intently his arms folded across his chest.

“I guess I can go home now,” Ben pushed, hoping for a reaction. “I’ve finally found proof of alien—”

Caleb’s hand reached for him again, this time grasping Ben’s jacket. “Just wait, you asshole. _Look_.”

The white speck was no longer a speck but a small square, now incredibly close, not two hundred feet in the air. It appeared to hover in place. It blinked twice then suddenly multiplied into fifteen or twenty squares of different colors, looking very much like glitching pixels on a digital screen. Ben’s ears alerted him to a sound like radio static that seemed to originate from the ground where they stood. The pixels were multiplying at a rapid speed, each individual square shrinking as they swarmed in the sky.

“Caleb, what the hell!” The panic in his own voice only frightened Ben further.

The sound of static got louder and higher. The wind picked up suddenly and whipped around them in eddies. Pixels of every color flashed and whizzed and spread across the sky like a wall of storm clouds.

“ _They’re here!_ ” Caleb’s voice sang out above the thunderous noise, eerily triumphant. Ben stepped back, watching as the mass grew, seeming more chaotic and frenzied with every second. The pitch of the frequency hit an ear-splitting high, indicating a terrifying peak. Caleb shouted again, this time his tone a warning. Ben didn’t make out what it was, he was frozen. Mesmerized—transfixed—by the sight in the sky.

“ _What?_ ” he shouted back after an eternity of four seconds.

“ _Cover your_ —”

The sheet of light was so bright that it shocked all of Ben’s senses. His hearing cut and the air felt thick in his ears. But then he felt nothing. He was unconscious when he hit the ground.

 

Voices, incoherent at first, growing louder in his ears. A rhythmic clacking sound, it sounded like bad wheels on a shopping cart. Wheels. He could feel himself rolling. The voices were talking about him.

“ _Shock..._ ”

The unmistakable feeling of fingers gloved in latex pulled at the skin under his eye.

“ _Unresponsive…_ ”

Nurses. He was in a hospital, on a stretcher. He felt his limbs now, cold and tingling. Every voice was clear, though they spoke over one another. His eyes opened and closed again. But he couldn’t see. It was dark. _Why couldn’t he see?_

“I can’t see anything,” his own voice croaked hopelessly among the throng. Then louder, “I can’t see!”

The voices quieted suddenly, as with the closing of a door on a crowded room.

“Sir, are you awake?” A single voice asked him.

“Yes, I’m awake,” Ben answered in a murmur. “But I can’t see.”


End file.
